WHAT DID ROTHSCHILD COUSIN BETHMANN-HOLLWEG DO BEFORE AND DURING WW1?

Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg was Chancellor of Germany as the July Crisis occured in July 1914.

He had developed a good relationship with Great Britain, so much so that Kaiser Wilhelm II went for a holiday in Norway on 6th July, leaving Germany in Bethmann-Hollweg's hands and not expecting any trouble with Great Britain.

However, on 23rd July Austria-Hungary delivered their ultimatum to Serbia.

How did Bethmann-Hollweg allow this to happen?

Well, some blame falls on Bethmann-Hollweg and the Kaiser for earlier giving Austria-Hungary "blank cheque" support, but this could be due to Great Britain giving the appearance of neutrality (when it was them who had planned the war for decades).

Wilhelm cut short his Norwegian holiday on 25th July to return to Berlin, arriving late on 26th July.

Earlier on 26th July, King George V told Wilhelm's brother Henry that George hoped that Great Britain would remain neutral. Sir Edward Grey had also proposed a conference between England, France, Italy, and Germany.

Germany rejected this proposal.

Why?

Webster Tarpley describes Bethmann-Hollweg:

The German chancellor from 1909 to 1917, Dr. Theobald von Bethmann- Hollweg, was an anglophile and a crony of the Kaiser’s student days, anxious to make concessions to London in order to secure peace. Sir Edward Grey declared in 1912 that any differences between England and Germany would never assume dangerous proportions “so long as German policy was directed by” Bethmann- Hollweg.

During the Balkan Wars and the Liman von Sanders affair of 1913, Grey cultivated the illusion of good relations with Germany. By mid-1914, Anglo- German relations were judged by Sir Edward Goschen, the British ambassador to Berlin, as “more friendly and cordial than they had been in years.”

[source : King Edward VII of Great Britain: Evil Demiurge of the Triple Entente and World War 1, Tarpley, http://tarpley.net/online-books/against-oligarchy/king-edward-vii-of-great-britain-evil-demiurge-of-the-triple-entente-and-world-war-1/]

Perhaps this apparent friendliness between Great Britain and Germany was due to this, but also to Bethmann-Hollweg being a cousin of the Rothschilds.

Of this rejection by Bethmann-Hollweg, Tarpley says:

On July 26, Grey proposed a conference of ambassadors from England, France, Italy, and Germany, which was declined by Germany for various reasons.

On Wikipedia you can currently read this about how Kaiser Wilhelm felt about the situation upon his return from Norway:

When Wilhelm arrived at the Potsdam station late in the evening of July 26, he was met by a pale, agitated, and somewhat fearful Chancellor. Bethmann Hollweg's apprehension stemmed not from the dangers of the looming war, but rather from his fear of the Kaiser's wrath when the extent of his deceptions were revealed. The Kaiser's first words to him were suitably brusque: "How did it all happen?" Rather than attempt to explain, the Chancellor offered his resignation by way of apology. Wilhelm refused to accept it, muttering furiously, "You've made this stew, now you're going to eat it!"

So how and/or why did Bethmann-Hollweg fuck it up?

Bethmann-Hollweg also decided to send Lenin into Russia...without telling Wilhelm!

I have been looking for a confirmation that Bethmann-Hollweg was a freemason, but could only find one website, and that was a Nazi website. I'm wondering who this "high ranking freemason" is that Kaiser Wilhelm refers to in his memoirs who told Wilhelm that Freemasonry engineered the war to create a power vacuum in Central Europe.